A poem which I had read as a child intimidates me even as an adult. The poem is a harsh reality and talks about something which is right before our eyes and yet we put a blind eye to it. The moral dilemmas and ambiguities that today’s women are facing raises very interesting thoughts to ponder over.
The lady in the poem is a victim of oppression by the hands of her husband. She has become weak, physically as well as mentally. Her bones being old and fragile are left with no strength to carry on a struggle. The mental trauma which her marriage has given her has turned her into a nervous wreck. She works by day and weeps by night. Fear is always on her mind, afraid of the dark reality which has constantly hounded her life. Her bleak might, always on a lookout for someone to understand her plight.
Now her husband is no more and she is all alone with only memories to reflect upon. Her entire life has passed before her eyes and after all these years only two images come to her mind. As she holds a paintbrush and sways it around the canvas, she draws two tigers. They appear to be prancing across the whole picture. The tigers are in sharp contrast to her. Elegantly they walk and display a sense of bravery. Pride is reflected in their roar and tremendous strength in every battle they fight. To be like them is an impossible dream that she is nurturing. Contrary to the fearless tigers, she feels scared and alone.
If a woman is willing to consciously make the choice to let go of her old stories of doubt, unworthiness and insecurity, she has the opportunity to move into a level of self-acceptance .This is true empowerment. As we lighten up, we discover that taking flight is much sweeter than squirming around on the ground.
Next she draws a ring. The ring symbolizes bondage, a life of a captive, a prisoner. The fruits of this beautiful marriage ring were sour and painful which she had to bear her entire life. She could not fulfill her wish and break the ring. It wasn’t that easy. She would be looked down upon by the society.
And one day she would die, her hands lying motionless and still ringed with ordeals that she was mastered by. The tigers would be set free. Free to rule over the world, proud and unafraid. She accepts her state in the wake of a hope that the others to come after her won’t be destined to a similar fate as hers.
The very existence of woman is precious and needs gentle loving kindness. No hammer, no chisel and no axe in this midst of chaos or turmoil will force her worth to the surface. Only patience, love and gentle persistence will help her in mustering up courage and to go for it! Courage is not the absence of fear; it is feeling the fear and doing something anyway.
Even in today’s date where our country boasts of modernization, economic upliftment for women, reservations for them in institutions, there are many women who act as a silent spectator and are traumatized and oppressed behind those four walls of their house. There are many like them, each living life in misery and unaware of all that life has to offer from its treasury. It is at the domestic level where the problem lies.
The true essence of freedom lies in the basic fact that both the sexes live together on equal terms. Change is the need of the hour. If we bring about the change, we need to have the innate intelligence to live the change. Society needs to understand her silence and solitude. Let the winds calm and leave behind a crystal clear blue sky.
If more encouragement is given to them and the male acts as a support rather than obstruction for women, then there would be no need to break the ‘ring’ and the society would flourish in terms of equity.
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